In: Blog
New book and digital interactive reveal fascinating finds from Cambridgeshire
April 11, 2024Our new book Unearthing the A14: 50 objects from one of Britain’s biggest digs explores some of the most interesting and intriguing finds from the National Highways A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme excavations and the sometimes-unexpected stories they tell of the ancient communities, animals, and landscapes connected by today’s A14. Based on…
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An unusual burial and a tragic story from Early Medieval Cambridgeshire
August 14, 2023Warning: this blog post contains images and discussion of human remains. Our National Highways A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme continues to open windows to the past. The latest discovery, from the analysis of a rare type of early medieval burial, gives us a glimpse into the tragic life of a…
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Top 5 things you need to know about archaeological archives
August 8, 2023On the National Highways A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement scheme, we excavated hundreds of acres of land, recovered thousands of artefacts, and took over 100,000 photographs – but where does all the information go? In the last blog we dug into the A14 Digital Archive, today we’re taking a look…
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Digging into the Digital A14
June 5, 2023On the National Highways A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement scheme, we excavated hundreds of acres of land, recovered thousands of artefacts, and took over 100,000 photographs – but where does all the information go? The answer is archives! A site archive is one of the most important parts of any…
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Geoarchaeology and environmental archaeology in action: the story of the A14 landscape and vegetation from the Bronze Age to the Early Medieval
March 21, 2023Archaeology isn’t just about people, it’s also about places. In fact, one thing that makes archaeology so important is that it can tell us about how entire landscapes looked in the past. It helps us understand why people lived where they did, the food they were eating, the materials they…
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The Bar Hill Comb
March 1, 2023Warning: this blog post contains images and discussion of human remains. When archaeologists working on the National Highways A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon scheme discovered a fragment of a comb, they knew they had found something unusual. But it took months of research by MOLA’s Finds Specialist, Michael Marshall, and Osteology…
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Huntingdon East, hidden in train sight – the archaeology of a forgotten station
January 3, 2023During our excavations on the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon National Highways scheme, we have found some amazing archaeology, including the earliest physical evidence for beer brewing and flint tools from more than 4000 years ago. But archaeology isn’t just about the ancient past. In fact, it helps us understand the…
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Pigs Teeth and Iron Nails – Masters students research the A14 past landscapes
November 9, 2022In 2021 Saskia Brogan and Katie Manby were awarded MA Scholarships for Reading University, funded by National Highways. This included placements working with the MOLA Headland team on the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Road Improvement Scheme, where they took part in a wide range of post-excavation work. Now they have both…
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Following in their pen strokes…
September 28, 2022A spotlight on the mysterious funerary clerks of St James’s Burial Ground We’re working hard with volunteers to learn about the 18th and 19th century Londoners buried in St James’s Burial Ground. This project is part of the HS2 scheme. We’re finding out these Londoners’ names, ages and where they…
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Secrets of Deserted Villages
August 31, 2022As archaeologists, we usually focus on the excavation and analysis of the physical remains of people’s lives, such as pottery, bone, and coins. But there is another source of information which can bring a new element to our investigations! In this blog we will explore some historic documents. These relate…
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